402 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 31, 1877. 



Peweey, in the order named. For six plants, Mr. Parham, 

 gardener to G. May, Esq., was placed first, and Mr. C. Higgs, 

 Caversham Park, second. In the Orchid classes, Mr. Baskett, 

 gardener to W. J. Palmer, Esq., and Mr. Butcher, gardener to 

 G. Palmer, Esq., were sucoessful. For a group of plants arranged 

 for effect the prizes went to Mr. Parham, Mr. Baskett, and 

 Mr. Lees. The principal prize for Show Pelargoniums was 

 won by Mr. Ashby, gardener to W. Fanning, Esq. : and Fancies 

 by Mr. Baskett, who was successful also for Fuchsias and 

 Gloxinias. Mr. Higg had the chief prizes for Azaleas, Calceo- 

 larias, and variegated plants. For table decorative plants Mr. 

 Parham and Mr. Kugman were successful. Mr. J. Mcllwick, 

 gardener to Madame Vander Weyer, was first with black 

 Grapes, and Mr. Ashby second ; and for white Grapes, Mr. 

 Tegg, gardener to J. Walter, Esq., M.P., Bearwood, was first; 

 and Mr. Wells second. Mr. Bridgeman, gardener to T. Somers 

 Cocks, Esq., had the best dish of Strawberries, and Mr. Ashby 

 and Mr. Tegg were successful with Peaches. Table deco- 

 rations, bouquets, and cut flowers, including a fine collection of 

 Marijchal Niel Eoees from Mr. Mayo, Oxford, were exhibited. 

 A considerable number of visitors attended the Show, many 

 of whom also inspected the collection of Calceolarias of Messrs. 

 Sutton & Sons, which we are informed are in extremely fine 

 condition. 



The first consignment of new Potatoes were sent from 



the Seilly Islands to London on the 25th of May. They were 

 sold to the retailers at from 10s. to 12s. per cwt. 



"A Visitor" writes to us that a distinct and rare 



CffiLOGYNE (C. corymbosa) is now flowering in Mr. Bull's 

 collection. The flower is white with a golden yellow lip, 

 singularly barred with bronzy crimson, and is both curious 

 and beautiful. A fine variety of Oncidium crispum, appro- 

 priately named 0. c. puuctatum, also attracts notice from its 

 distinctly spotted flowers. Chysis bractesoens, Dendrobium 

 concolor, and several others are also in beauty. The wonder- 

 ful display of Odontoglossum vexillarium, referred to by our 

 correspondent, has been previously noticed. 



. Mr. Peter Grieve of Culford writes to us, " There is 



a little error in the first part of my paper on garden friends 

 and foes, for which I am to blame — viz., ' feathered justice.' It 

 should have been ' JEDBDHaH,iosTicE,' a very familiar old Scotch 

 proverb, referring to the rude times of early border history. 

 Jedburgh is in the district pronounced Jethard, or something 

 like that, hence the little error." 



The fine double white Az.ilea indica imeeicata, which 



was first exhibited at Brussels last year and received high 

 honours, is now flowering in the nurseries of Messrs. Veitch 

 of Chelsea. Many of the flowers are quite as double as Gar- 

 denias, and almost as pure, while a few are flaked with pink, 

 and occasionally a flower entirely pink is produced. The 

 plants are quite small, yet are quite covered with flowers, and 

 the variety also appears to be a free grower. It is a first- 

 class novelty. Azalea grandis is also noticeable by its exceed- 

 ingly large crimson flowers; while the distinct and fine Souve- 

 nir du Prince Albert continues, and worthily, increasing in 

 popularity. Many Orchids are now in flower in this nursery, 

 including Dendrobium Biymerianum with its wonderful golden 

 moss-like lip, and the rare Cattleya Skinueri alba. 



" A Lady Gardener " writes to us as follows on tlant- 



ING Geranium reus — " Last year in planting an oval bed with 

 Amy Hogg Geranium by accident another kind of a much 

 paler pink was mixed with Amy Hogg. Fortunately the mis- 

 take was discovered too late to be rectified. The result was a 

 most lovely effect of colour in two shades of pink. The bed 

 was a mass of flower, and the blending of the two pinks re- 

 minded one of an Azalea in full bloom. Even one gardener, 

 a most bigoted follower of the bedding-out system with its 

 orthodox arrangement of colours, was quite reconciled to the 

 mistake. This year all our beds are being arranged on the 

 two-or-more-ehades-of-colour plan — scarlet and pale salmon 

 red, deep and pale pink, pale pink and white with pink eye, etc., 

 the plants put in irregularly to avoid all formality. I am sure 

 anyone who tried this plan would at once see the improvement 

 on the masses of hard scarlet and pink so dazzling to the eye 

 in bright sunshine. A person with an eye for colour could 

 suggest many combinations of shades." 



A roBRESfONDENT Writes to us as follows on the hardi- 

 ness of New Zealand l'i>Ac.i:Nis: — " It may interest some of 

 your readers to know that one of two large Dracienas, known 

 as 'New Zealand Cabbage Palms,' which were turned out of 

 their tabs into the open ground last autumn at Aimer Rectoiy, 



Blandford, is now coming into blossom. At present it looks 

 like the flower of a huge Carex. The plants were raised from 

 seed about ten years ago sent from New Zealand." The New 

 Zealand Cordylines will no doubt survive ordinary mild winters 

 in the south of England, and the partial check which they 

 receive to their growth is likely to accelerate their flowering. 

 The Cabbage Palm is probably a popular antipodal name. The 

 true Cabbage Palm is Areca oleracea, a native of the West Indies. 

 The tree grows 170 to 200 feet in height, the " Cabbage" being 

 its terminal bud. It is boiled and eaten with meat, and is 

 considered not only a luxurious but an extravagant dish, seeing 

 that the removal of the terminal bud involves the destruction 

 of the tree. 



The " Morning Intelligencer," dated June 3rd, 1780, 



states that two days previously " A teck or Green Peas was 

 sold in Covent Garden Market for Gd., agreeable to an ancient 

 custom, the charter being held by the circumstance of selling 

 at that price on the Ist of Jane." Is the custom still 

 observed ? 



Owing to the wanton destruction of flowers, shrubs, 



etc., by a pleasure party who visited Lord Stamford's, Enville 

 Gardens, during the past week, his lordship has ordered them 

 to be closed to the public. A number of persons who were 

 found committing the damage were turned out of the grounds 

 at once. 



We regret to place on record in these pages the death 



of one who during his lifetime was one of our earliest con- 

 tributors. Mr. James Barnes died at Bicton on the 23rd inst. 

 aged seventy-one years. It is more than thirty years since 

 Mr. Barnes commenced his communications to this Journal. 

 Hie articles were a reflex of the man — pointed and practical, 

 and could never mislead. Mr. Barnes was a man of great 

 perseverance. He was both a great reader and worker ; 

 earnest in acquiring information by observation and by ex- 

 periment. He was equally willing to impart it to others, and 

 the vigour of his personal teaching will not soon be forgotten 

 by many whom he aided to train as good gardeners ; and his 

 writings were always read, because they were admitted to be 

 sound. Mr. Barnes was of a " gardening family." His father 

 was a gardener, and brought up five sons to " the craft." 

 Mr. James Barnes had great experience in commercial horti- 

 culture, having held important appointments at Chelsea and 

 Bermondsey in large plant and vegetable-growing establish- 

 ments there. He paid great attention to crossing Cucumbers, 

 and he raised many improved varieties. During his long en- 

 gagement at Bicton he was successful in every department. 

 Pines he grew of unusual excellence, and Conifers and shrubs 

 received a large share of his attention, and he was the raiser 

 of CoUetia bictonensis. He took great interest in promoting 

 a taste for gardening amongst cottagers, and was amongst the 

 first to assist in establishing exhibitions of their produce. 

 He was in fact indefatigable in his calling, and was generally 

 designated as a " fine old British gardener." 



A LADY writing to us on bullfinches and fruit buds, 



asks if the late very mild winters have not promoted the 

 increase of insects which the birds search for in the buds of 

 fruit trees, and further remarks that forty years ago when the 

 winters were severe little was heard of tho dcstruotiveness of 

 birds, and our trees were loaded with fruit. But bullfinches 

 must have existed then as now. Many buds which our corre- 

 spondent has examined this spring have decayed in the centre, 

 which she suggests is the effect of insects. Severe frost, it 

 must be remembered, has the same effect on fruit buds. A 

 Sussex correspondent also states that a bullfinch kept in a 

 cage prefers as food " spiders, all sorts of smooth caterpillars, 

 and the green fly on fruit tree leaves ; he also eats leaf buds, 

 but when given a bough he always chose a blighted bud first. 

 If gardeners would protect their fruit when ripening, the good 

 our little birds do in spring would counteract the harm they 

 do in summer. As for the titmouse (tomtit) they are the 

 only birds I know that will clear the hairy caterpillar off Goose- 

 berry bushes." 



We regret to announce the death of Mr. Henrt 



Merryweather, which occurred at The Nurseries, Southwell, 

 ou the 17th inst. Mr. Merryweather was a man of great 

 experience, and he was held in much esteem in the neighbour- 

 hood. Mr. Merryweather was seventy-four years of age, and 

 is succeeded by his son, the eminent rosarian. 



The Irisli Farmers' Gazette, in recently alluding to the 



HARDINESS OF Cyrtantheba maonifica, states that a plant of 



